Friday, November 30, 2012

Thanks for stopping by the Jolly Jabber while we get our creative juices flowing with a new book! Victoria Findlay Wolfe is an inspiring quilter, lover of color, scrap queen and now accomplished author. We are excited to tell you a bit about 15 Minutes of Play, her very first book, which will help you to fuel your creativity with scrap piecing.

Victoria urges creatives to dedicate 15 minutes each day to play. Take 15 minutes to play with your scraps, and you may end up with something amazing. This "playtime" will cultivate your creativity and keep you inspired.

What if you are drawing a blank when you sit down for your 15 minute playtime? Victoria has laid out 11 challenge exercises to get you started and to strengthen your creative muscles. Use Victoria's challenges, ideas and inspirational quilts to start a creative journey.

We are giving away a copy of 15 Minutes of Play to one lucky Jolly Jabber reader! Leave a comment below letting us know how much time you dedicate to creating. Winners in the US will receive a hard copy of the book and international winners will receive an ebook. The winner will be chosen December 12th. Good luck!

Be sure to follow along the rest of the tour to learn more about 15 Minutes of Play!

I usually try to sneak in as much sewing time as possible... sometimes it's only a half hour, other times I can get in as much as two hours after the kids are asleep. Right now, though, with a new baby I'm not getting much sewing time in. :)

I am now a "kept" woman so I spend hours a day playing in my studio. I am spoiled. Sometimes I get an idea in my head and am so excited about it that I have to stop what I'm doing and try it immediately. I quilt, hook rugs, embroider, knit, crochet, etc. I have a great life.

Unfortunately I don't spend nearly enough time creating! I am too busy getting customer quilts done and being a mom and a wife. That is precisely why I need this book! I need inspiration and to remember how to play. Ever been "too busy" to play? That would be me!

I work graveyard shift and am stuck to a chair until someone talks to me so I spend most of my evenings either hand piecing or drooling over fabrics and patterns, impatient until I can start the next project!

I try to create a little everyday, and some days all day. On my breaks at work. For an hour after everyone has gone to bed. Or a few minutes here and there when I am working on a clients quilt.I would love to win Victoria's book, what inspiration!

My "creating" time varies from day to day, but I do it every day. I may not get to my sewing machine every day, but I always have some handwork to work on. It might be applique, embroidery or maybe completing the binding on a quilt

Week nights i spend half an hour to 2hours on sewing, knitting or embroidery. Weekends i am home, 4-6 hours, per day. If out of town, maybe 2 hours/ day with handwork. Now, what i would like to add is more creative, design, experimenting time. I am not as quilt by number as i was, but am not courageous as i would like to be. I think this book will help me become more adventurous. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

I love the concept of your book. :). I love fabric and all of the creativity I see from my fellow quilters. I try to stop buying fabric and books and then someone like you comes along with another good idea. I move my fabric around from one storage bin to another, look in quilt magazines and catalogs and shop online every day. The next thing I know my quilt friends want to go fabric shopping again :) The end products are absolutely wonderful. Thank you for sharing your ideas.:)

I have to sew something or craft everyday or I don't feel like i did anything. Even when I worked a full time job. I probably sew at least 4 hours a day. But shhh! don't tell the hub I sneak a bit more out after he goes to bed. LOL

On a good day with both kids in school I will sew all day and do 6 hours. However if either of them is ill I get absolutely nothing done! On average I probably sew an hour a night. Thanks for the giveaway chance x

Oh, my. Actual sewing time is minimal per day, but I consider creative time to be when I am surfing quilt blogs, drawing ideas on slips of paper, printing patterns with particular stash fabrics in mind, devouring quilt magazines and cutting out pictures of 'some day quilts'. For these kind of activites I would say an hour and a half a day!

being older and alone and somewhat limited in my activities, i have lots of time for handcrafting ... i enjoy my quilting and knitting particularly and do a number of other crafty things as the mood strikes.

I may go a day or 2 (at most) not creating anything. I always look forward to Friday nights and spending time in my sewing room. Together, my 9 year old daughter and I have a blast making totes, dresses, etc. Creating something new is a great way for us to bond!!!

I usually spend the evening, say apx 5 hrs.. I dont have kids at home and I dont work, so I have alot of time. I get my mojo going by doing several crafts, I may cross-stitch, quilt, embroidery, or work with a new technique all in one day, if I am in a slump, I will iron and fold my fabric or sort scraps, I love to make scrap blocks to relax me..

Temporarily I'm unable to sew b/c of surgery. But I look at my fabric and dream about my next project. It's a form of play, too. I can easily take an hour every day to play. When I'm back to "normal" I suspect I'll both play and work for several hours each day.

Wow what a wonderful book. I try to spend at least one hour everyday creating and sewing. Some days if I miss my time to create and sew I get grouchy, so I will spend extra time the next day. I always have a graph pad and pencils on my table in case while doing something else a design or idea hits me, I can write it down.

I am just not able to do much quilting during the week. Between, school, tutoring, family...I'm too drained to get much creativity going. The weekends are when I get time to sew. This book looks like just the ticket to get my creative juices flowing again!

I do most my creating on the weekends as I work full time and have a 2 hour daily commute. Sometimes in the evenings when a project is needing hand work I will squeeze that in during TV time :o)Have a great day.Always, Queenie

Love creating quick gifts, but probably like most I don't spend enough time creating. Seems like I'm a little bit slow in this fast-paced world we live in, but a little bit of inspiration from your giveaway would definitely help!

Sounds like fun! I often don't get much done because I think 15 minutes just doesn't seem like enough time to get anything done. And yet, I've learned that I need to plan and break up my work in chunks.I steal a few minutes anytime I can, by looking through magazines, browsing blogs with my iPhone, cutting patches while playing puzzles, making and cutting stencils or foundations. Most of my time is after I put the boys to bed, so 2-4 hours in the evenings.

I've been following this blog hop and I sat down and played for about 2 hrs. last night and got a snack mat made and quilted. Tried out a new ruler and just used scraps. Even got to try a different fmq pattern in each block using my new machine.Playing is fun!!

Unfortunately I don't get near as much time to create as I need. Family comes first so I snatch whatever few minutes here and there that I can. Usually I'm pretty satisfied with what I get done in the time I have.660

When I don't have a specific project I want to work on but have a few minutes to sew, I love to pull out my scraps and play. Victoria has inspired me to "create fabric" with my scraps. Thanks for sharing.

If creating idea comes I would only take about an hour to get all materials needed and sew everything together. Usually looking for the right scraps takes longer than sewing ... my sewing room is in a mess!!

To create something daily is a big part of my life and the effect has trickled down to my children. They recently received their own sewing machine so I could have a chance to use mine, again! They will be displaying and selling their creative goodies at an upcoming craft fair!

Heath issues have kept me from actual sewing and making as much as I want in the last few months (used to be at least 15-20 hours / week and more often about 30 hours). So, I spend most of my time out of bed reading, dreaming, talking, or doodling about quilts... and a little bit of time making some softies for Christmas. It's about 10 hours a week right now.

Because I have lupus, my energy levels wax and wane, as does the amount of time I spend creating. I spend a lot of time each day thinking about quilting, though, which I think helps me creatively and emotionally. That is one aspect of quilting I love: even when I'm not at my machine or working with fabric, I'm growing creatively.

As of right now my creativity has all been with school work. I am back in college and carrying 18 credits! LOL I have been doing little projects and those are working for me. Would love this book as I workj alot with crumbs and scraps.

In an ideal world..at least 15 minutes per day after work but then I make more mistakes during the weekday. I think this 15 minute of play would be a great way to spend my 15 minutes per day of quilting -making it a productive week.

Wow- I could really use this book to "jumpstart" me-it looks amazing and playing is right up my alley. Most of my pursuits involve creating in one way or another-I wish I could somehow make exercise appealing and creative as I need that and hate it. I want to win!I love and adore color and it looks a good way to do some playing with it before total commitment.

Sometimes it's easy to let the day slip away without taking that 15 minutes to be creative. I started keeping a set of pencils and paper by the bed so that if nothing else, I can sketch out a quick idea before heading to the land of Nod. :) Thanks for the giveaway!

Unfortunately I don't get a lot of sewing time during the week....although in my mind there is creativity going on. I try to get a couple of hours at the end of the week. This looks like a GREAT book! Thanks for the opportunity to win!

I spend some time creating nearly every day, although not nearly as much as I'd like. I keep hand sewing projects with me for waits in doctors offices or school pick up lines or during my lunch break, so that usually gives me about 15 minutes per day. On really good days, I also get an hour or two of time in my sewing room.

Now that I'm retired I'm finally finding more time to quilt - some days for several hours, others only an hour or so. But creative play - I've always considered myself to not be very creative, so perhaps this book is just what I need! Thanks for the giveaway!

I am trying to sew everyday. Sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't. I would like to spend at least 2 hours a day in my sewing room. Victoria's book looks inspiring. I have been following her 15 Minutes blog. Thank you for a chance to win her book. Janita

Thanks for showing some great photos from Victoria's book. I make sure to do something related to my creativity every day. Could be from a few minutes to several hours. But, it's important to get at least some time in.

I'm very creaive in whatever I do (decorating for parties, gifts, cards, etc.) but I don't spend any dedicated time for just playing and i REALLY want to start. I think that'll be my New Year's resolution for me!

Not as much time as I'd like. I work full-time and have a toddler I miss like crazy when I'm gone, so we play until she goes to bed. I often get only an hour or two a week to craft. Thanks for the chance to win!

I try to spend about a half hour most days being creative in one way or another with my quilting. I'm fairly new to quilting as I waited until I retired to start. Other than cooking and cleaning and other things around the house, quilting is my only outlet. I spend a lot of time looking through things having to do with quilting on the computer. I would love to win the book & have some time away from the computer to read about my favorite topic! Thanks for the chance to win.

Thank you for the chance to enter this contest. I sew in the morning for 30 minutes if we don't walk on the trail by our home. For sure after longarming all day either before or after dinner. Fav is Quilt Cam with Bonnie Hunter; I get so much done!! Have a Merry Christmas!!